1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to image special effects, and particularly to a special effect device, a key signal control device and a key signal control method used for an editing system capable of performing non-linear editing.
This application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No.2003-102354, filed on Apr. 4, 2003, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
2. Description of the Related Art
At broadcasting stations and production departments for image contents such as postproduction, material video data and audio data are generally edited by using a non-linear editing device and contents such as television programs, commercials or movies are thus produced.
As a non-linear editing device, a computer (workstation or personal computer) in which editing application software is installed has been conventionally used.
In such a non-linear editing device, a material of desired scenes is captured from a VTR, video camera or the like that recorded the material into a storage device connected with the computer or a built-in hard disk of the computer.
Then, editing processing is performed by the computer having the editing application software, such as image special effects (hereinafter referred to as special effects) on the captured material, or synthesis or connection of the captured material of one workstation with another material. A video content is thus produced (see, for example, Patent Reference 1).
Patent Reference 1: JP-A-2003-37806
The special effects made by such a non-linear editing device include a special effect called border effect, which is like bordering an image. The border effect is often made together with a special effect called softness that restrains contrast of image at the bordered part. As the border effect and softness are made simultaneously, an effectively bordered image can be provided.